Contractor picked to build 10,000 civil servants’ houses

Director of Public Private Partnerships at the National Treasury, Mr Stanley Kamau. Mr Kamau Friday said tender evaluations for the plan to build 10,000 houses for civil servants had been done and bidders identified. FILE PHOTO |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Mr Kamau said the private investors design, fund and construct the houses in adherence to the standards set by the government.
• In Starehe, 6,400 units will be built on 20 acres; 2,000 units will be built in 11.5 acres in Shauri Moyo and in Park Road, 1,600 units will be set up on nine acres.
• Low cadre employees are expected to be in the majority as the monthly instalments will range between Sh2,000 and Sh4,000.

By EDWIN OKOTH
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The plan to build 10,000 houses for civil servants has started with the naming of a developer.

The Public Private Partnerships unit director Stanley Kamau Friday said tender evaluations had been done and bidders identified.

“We are concluding the negotiations with investors and within a week, we can have the tenders brought for approval. They will then be forwarded to the Cabinet before we start construction. The civil servants will not even need to take mortgages as the plan is easily funded from their salaries,” Mr Kamau told Nation.

The first houses in Nairobi will be at Park Road, Shauri Moyo and Starehe. The old houses will be demolished first.

The State will provide land while the contractors will put up the low-cost houses. The investors will then recoup their investments in 20 years.
The workers would dedicate a portion of their monthly earnings to own the houses.

Low cadre employees are expected to be in the majority as the monthly instalments will range between Sh2,000 and Sh4,000.

They will be bed-sitters, one, two and three bedroomed houses.

10 PER CENT DEPOSIT

Mr Kamau said the private investors design, fund and construct the houses in adherence to the standards set by the government.

Last year, Lands Principal Secretary Mariamu El Maawy said the workers, who include clerks, secretaries and office assistants, will own the houses in about 15 years implying that the units may cost up to Sh800,000.

Under the scheme, workers will pay a 10 per cent deposit and monthly repayments over a period of 18 years or until they retire at 60 years, or whichever comes first.

In Starehe, 6,400 units will be built on 20 acres; 2,000 units will be built in 11.5 acres in Shauri Moyo and in Park Road, 1,600 units will be set up on nine acres.

These will mark the first phase of the 300,000 housing units plan that the government plans to build in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nyeri.

The developments will be a departure from the past where the government has focused on housing for civil servants above job group K.

In 2012, the State offered two and three bedroom apartments valued between Sh3.2 million and Sh4.2 million respectively, which required civil servants to make a minimum monthly payment of Sh20,247.

The high cost technically locked out workers earning less than Sh58,000 per month.